MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.60.

MET has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $96.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Wolfe Research raised MetLife to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler downgraded MetLife from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MetLife from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th.

Institutional Trading of MetLife

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in MetLife by 790.0% in the third quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 22,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,893,000 after buying an additional 4,956 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of MetLife during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,384,000. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MetLife in the 3rd quarter valued at $346,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in MetLife by 8.1% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

MetLife Stock Up 0.8%

MET opened at $76.95 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $79.02 and a 200-day moving average of $78.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. MetLife has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $88.68.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.07. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. The firm had revenue of $12.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MetLife will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. MetLife’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.75%.

MetLife Company Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.